FOR all the knee operations, ankle troubles and hip problems, there is an unshakeable sense that one injury has plagued Robbie Fowler since he left Liverpool. A broken heart.

Throughout Fowler: The Autobiography all roads lead toward one, painful exit.

The fact it happened, why it had to be and who was responsible for it dominate Fowler's thoughts.

So much so that even recollections of his finest moments in a Liverpool jersey appear to be tarnished by the off-field shenanigans which made him accept, at the

age of 26, that he was entering the twilight of his Anfield career.

The 2000-01 season was the pinnacle of Gerard Houllier's reign at Anfield, and Fowler was integral to the treble cup success.

He scored in two finals and the winner in the FA Cup semi. His last day goal blitz also brought Champions League football to Anfield for the first time.

By the following November, however, he was heading to Leeds, having finally succumbed to what he perceives was a campaign to force him out.

"The treble parade would have been the most perfect moment of my footballing life, but for the two people standing behind me, clearly already plotting their next move," says Fowler in the book.

"I have never had a better year and it's unlikely to be matched by very many people. In terms of my mental state, it got worse as the season wore on.

You want to win things as a footballer, you want to be there holding up the trophies and playing your part. I did that, I lifted all three trophies and I felt I had every right to do so, because I had contributed in all three finals.

"But at the same time, I didn't start in two of them and part of you is always niggling away, saying that you weren't really part of the team, the manager doesn't really rate you, the fans know you are a bit of a fraud going wild celebrating when you were only on for a few minutes or so. I did contribute, but I could have contributed a lot more."

Fowler argues Houllier had already made up his mind to sell him, suggesting it was part of a strategy to dismantle Roy Evans's side. Only the youngsters Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and Danny Murphy survived the cull.

"You'd have thought after scoring in two cup finals and two semi-finals, and after scoring the goals that got them into the Champions League, I'd have been guaranteed a future at Anfield. Houllier didn't," recalls Fowler, adding he was already thinking it was over when he returned to pre-season training at the start of the 2001-02 campaign.

"What happened just before the start of the season confirmed my fears," says Fowler, introducing one of the more notorious episodes of his latter days in red.

"It was just before the Charity Shield against Manchester United on August 12. The day before we were due to head to Wales, we were training at Melwood and I was practising my shooting, firing balls into the empty net. As I was doing it, Phil Thompson stood behind the goal. As I shot, the net billowed out a bit, and the ball went near him. It couldn't have hit him, because there was a net in the way, and I would have had to have a radioactive shot to burn the net. But he started screaming that the ball could have hit him . . .

"He came out with all the stuff they were clearly saying behind my back.

"Thompson said I'd been at Liverpool too long, that was my problem. Now what kind of comment was that from a man who had served Liverpool for so long, and wanted to stay at the club all his life? He ranted on a bit more, and I just said that only at Liverpool under him and Houllier could they get annoyed about strikers practising shooting at goal.

"On the day of the game, Houllier hit me with this incredible bomb-shell. He hadn't been at the training session where I'd had the row with Thompson, but just a couple of hours before kick-off he said I wasn't playing. He said I wasn't even on the bench.

"On Monday, Houllier called me into his office and told me I was dropped because I had been rude to Thompson, adding that I wouldn't play again until I apologised. This was a multi-million pound business and they were excluding the captain because he had kicked a ball into a net when someone was standing within a few metres of it. How stupid is that?

"Houllier said I needed to apologise and I said I didn't feel any need to.

"He called a meeting between me and Thompson. When I got to the training ground, instead of going to the manager's office, Houllier led me to the middle of the training pitch. Thompson threw his arms in the air for no reason and I was thinking 'this is strange'. The next day there was a picture in all the newspapers. Jamie Redknapp came in laughing, saying I'd been caught in a sting."

After two weeks in the doghouse, Fowler says he made "an apology of sorts . . . and told them what a right load of toss-ers they were looking".

"Phil Thompson accepted my apology with a smile like he had won the lottery, the wrong 'un," said Fowler.

The end came the following November when Leeds made a massive bid which was duly accepted.

The striker's final appearance for Liverpool came on November 25, 2001, when Didi Hamann's early red card meant Fowler was subbed at half-time during a 1-0 win over Sunderland.

"My epitaph at Anfield was to be sacrificed at half-time to strengthen the midfield and go defensive.

"Kind of sums up my time under Houllier."

'Sniffing' taunt to get back at Blues fans >>>>

'Sniffing' taunt to get back at Blues fans>

HIS infamous derby goal celebration nearly sparked a riot, but Robbie Fowler still believes the reaction he got for sniffing the touchline was over the top.

"I thought it would be hilarious to have a go back at the Everton fans for all the stick they had given me over the years," he says of the incident in 1999.

"I was sick of the abuse they had thrown at me along with the pies, and all the chants about me being a smackhead.

I'd show them who was a smackhead, by scoring a goal against them and - if you'll forgive the pun - rubbing their noses in it.

"Even now, I can't understand some of the reaction to it. Okay, it wasn't the smartest move, and I realise I shouldn't have been so obvious in taunting the Everton fans, even if they deserved it.

"I wasn't a smackhead and I was sick of being called it, especially by the Everton fans who hated me so much. The message I was sending out was that if I was supposed to be a smackhead, how could I score goals against Everton?

"It was an attempt to get them to think about what they were doing, and even make them stop. It was supposed to be funny. It didn't exactly work."

* Fowler, by Robbie Fowler, is published in hardback by Macmillan at #18.99. To order your copy call 01256 302699 quoting GLR code E75.